Letters
Letters, Spring 2013
Letters from Henry Kissinger and other readers.
Features
Chopped Herring and the Making of the American Kosher Certification System
In 1986, the discovery of non-kosher vinegar in a classic Jewish delicacy led to a revolution in kosher supervision.
Jerusalem of the Balkans
In 1911, David Ben-Gurion spent several months in Salonica and declared that it was "the only Jewish labor city in the world." Now, because of an open-minded mayor and his nationalist opponents, this formerly Jewish city is experiencing a peculiar mix of Jewish memory and anti-Semitism.
Reviews
Why Is This Haggadah Different?
The Haggadah of China's Kaifeng Jews is not all that dissimilar from your Maxwell House version—but it speaks volumes about the community that produced it.
Israel on the Hudson
An ambitious, new three-volume work attempts to tell the story of New York's Jews from the days of Peter Stuyvesant to the present.
Brother Baruch
Daniel Schwartz's excellent new book is the first ever to chart the changing image of Spinoza throughout the centuries.
The Gaon of Modernity
Was the Vilna Gaon a great defender of tradition or a radical modernizer?
Schechter’s Seminary
Solomon Schechter is remembered as the founder of Conservative Judaism—but who are his religious heirs?
A Certain Late Discovery
Was Jacques Derrida a Jewish thinker?
Golden Apples
Meet Hyam Plutzik, the poet who wrote a major work—and then disappeared.
Famous Jews
How is Barbra Streisand's decision not to have her nose "fixed" similar to Sandy Koufax's decision not to pitch on Yom Kippur?
From the Middle to the End
A deceptively simple novel about a suburban, Midwestern Jewish family catapults into something annoyingly profound.
Middle Position
An insider account reveals how personal relationships and rivalries often shape Washington's foreign policy.
The Arts
The Vanishing Point
A new exhibit explores the vanished world and unseen photographs of Roman Vishniac.
New Beats for Old Brooklyn
Andy Statman started out as an unlikely prodigy: a New York Jewish kid playing bluegrass on the mandolin.
Readings
No Joke
Sigmund Freud loved Jewish jokes and for many years collected material for the study that would appear in 1905 as Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. An excerpt from Ruth Wisse's new book No Joke: Making Jewish Humor.
Exchange
People of the Talmud: Since When? A Response and Rejoinder
Talya Fishman, Haym Soloveitchik
Talya Fishman and Haym Soloveitchik exchange words on the tosafists.
Last Word
Light Reading
Stoicism and the human heart.
Past Issues
Issue No. 58
Summer 2024
Issue No. 57
Spring 2024
Issue No. 56
Winter 2024
Issue No. 55